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Cicero: De Officiis. Add.8442

The University Library's Italian manuscripts are not held as a separate collection. The following finding aids will help identify materials written in Italian or relating to Italian studies.

  1. The slip index of Incipits
  2. The subject index
  3. CMLUC-the nineteenth century printed catalogue of the Two-letter classes
  4. Medieval Additional Manuscripts
  5. Early Modern Additional Manuscripts
  6. Papers of Lord Acton
  7. Western Illuminated Manuscripts

1. The slip index of Incipits

Available in the Manuscripts Room, this is a list of works by incipit-the first lines of the text. It was compiled in the main by Dr B.F.C. Atkinson, Head of the Manuscripts department in the middle years of the twentieth century, and includes manuscripts held in other Colleges. It is arranged by languages, from Bohemian to Spanish, and includes Greek. The College entries are based on the incipits recorded by M.R.James in his catalogues. While such a list can never be perfect, this index can be an excellent aid to locating copies of a particular text throughout Cambridge University. An attempt has been made to keep the list of Incipits of University Library manuscripts up to date, but this has inevitably not been possible with College accessions.

2. The subject index

This consists of two volumes kept behind the counter in the Manuscripts Room. It lists manuscripts in classmark order under broad categories. It was first begun by Dr B.F.C.Atkinson, and like many other lists in the room contains entries in his characteristic hand. There is a list of subjects at the beginning of the first volume, with about 75 very broad categories. It is always worth checking in more than one category.

3. CMLUC-the nineteenth century printed catalogue of the Two-letter classes

The basic catalogue of the Two-letter classes, covering all volumes of all dates to the early nineteenth century, is still A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the university of Cambridge, 5 volumes plus index (Cambridge 1856-67; reprinted München : Kraus; Hildesheim : Olms, 1980, c1979. Classmark: A122.2.5). This is available in the Manuscripts Reading Room at A122.2.5, with a second set behind the counter. The standard preferred abbreviation for citing this work is CMLUC. It may also be consulted online through the website of the Internet Archive, as follows:

Vol 1: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus01cambuoft

Vol 2: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus02cambuoft

Vol 3: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus03cambuoft

Vol 4: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus04cambuoft

Vol 5: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus05cambuoft

(Index volume): http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus00cambuoft

Alternatively, go to "Internet Archive" on the internet, and in the field "texts" search on the terms <Catalogue> <manuscripts> <preserved> <Cambridge>. In downloading and using this Catalogue it should always be remembered that the digitized copy may not show up-to-date foliation or numbering of the articles within the manuscripts, often undertaken when manuscript volumes were rebound.

4. Medieval Additional Manuscripts

For the medieval manuscripts not in the "Two-letter" classes, see Jayne Ringrose, Summary catalogue of the Additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library acquired before 1940. (Cambridge: D.S.Brewer, 2009. Classmark: A122.2.10).

Macrobius, Saturnalia. Add.4095

5.Early Modern Additional Manuscripts

These include the following relevant items from the 16th and 17th centuries:

Add.736 (1) : paraphrase on Pslams, 17c (Italian)

Add.4131 : Urbino. Grant of degree to C. Guidarellius, 1589 (Latin)

Add. 4133 : Ducale Commissions of A. Damula, 1596 (Italian)

Add. 4137 : Diploma in Canon Law (Bologna) to J.F. Brocardus, 1615 (Latin)

Add. 4139 : Padua University: Diploma to J. Bastwick, 1622 (Latin)

Add. 4439 : Terracina (Mons. de): Commentarii…Francia…, 1556-1571 17c (Italian)

Add. 4440 : Relatione del modo sol quale si governano in Francia gli Ugonotti, 17c (Italian)

Add. 4441 : Breue e chiara Idea del Regno di Napoli , c. 1658 (Italian)

Add. 4609-4611: Mazarin (Card.) Lettere, 1647-1650 (Italian)

Add. 4614 : Memoriae d'Enrico iiij Re di Francia et c., 17c (Italian)

Add. 4658 : Arcani de Principi dell'Italia , 17c (Italian)

Add. 4742 : Pratica del S. Offitio, 17c (Italian)

Add. 4744 : Caraffi: Sommario del processo temp. Pio IV, 17c (Italian)

Add. 4758-5021 : Lord Acton's MSS-19c notes on earlier sources (Mostly Italian). Includes the following:

  • Add. 4842 : Massacre of St Bartholomew's Day, 17-19c (Italian)
  • Add. 4849 : History of Liberty 1550-1620, 17-19c (Italian)
  • Add. 4852 : Spagna Vienna Dispatches & c 1576-1725, 17c-18c (Italian)
  • Add. 4888 : Correspondence, 1543-1697 (Italian)
  • Add. 4859 : Correspondence, 1698-1701 (Italian)
  • [other Acton MSS. at Add 5381-5710 and see other indexes]

Add. 6004 : Bologna University Diploma: Caesar Livizzani Ll.D, 1602 (Latin)

Add. 6571 : Castlemaine (Earl of): Diary at Rome, 1687-7 (Italian)

Add. 8500 : Valleggio (G.B.) Varia Statu d'Amuri (verse commonplace book), ?17c (Italian)

Add. 8653 : Rinaldo da Monte Albano, 1505 (Italian)

Add. 8677 : Miscellaneous letters, accounts etc. (Collected as paper specimens), 17-18c (English and Italian)

Add. 8852 : College of Cardinals: copy letters ‘Lettere, proposte e risposte’ (Latin and Italian)

Add. 8898 : Monastic antiphoner, plainsong music for matins and lauds, 17c (Latin and Italian)

Add. 8930 : Italian account of Spanish political situation, 1630-44 (Italian)

Add. 8931 : Tracts, letters on conflicts between Urban VIII and Italian states, 1642-44 (Italian)

Add. 8963 : Francesco Medici Lorenzo Segni Nicolo Gianni business letters to them, 1614-34 (Italian)

Add. 9221 : Commonplace book, anon, probably Cambridge, c. 1600-20 (Italian, Latin, English)

Add. 9223 : Pope Gregory XV instructions for papal nuncios, 1621-23 (Italian)

Add. 9243 : Girolamo Venier (1640-1714): Venetian ambassador to France: report, 1689 (Italian)

Add. 9291 : Giovanni Cibo: Genuensium res gestae history of Genoa, c.1575 (Latin)

Add. 9292 : Cartulary, Casa delle Donzelle all Zudecca (Venice), c.1561-1678 (Latin)

Add. 9307 : Nota sopra gli appalti camerlai: Offices of profit in papal States, c.1695-1710 (Italian)

Add 9488 : Antonio Maisis: certificate of creation, notary public, 1665 (Italian)

and from the 19th century, the newly digitised:

Add.6210 : Miscellaneous manuscript, gathering 35 letters by Giacomo Leopardi, 3 documents by the same author, 1 letter by Monaldo Leopardi and 2 letters by Paolina Leopardi https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/leopardi/1.

6. Papers of Lord Acton

A collection of papers relating to the life and work of historian John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton. These include the correspondence of the Acton family of Naples, where his paternal grandfather, Sir John Francis Edward Acton, had held several high offices including that of Prime Minister.

7. Western Illuminated Manuscripts

Paul Binski and Patrick Zutshi, with the collaboration of Stella Panayotova, Western illuminated manuscripts, a catalogue of the collection in Cambridge University Library (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Classmark: A122.2.48)